Activists say case shows need for immigration reform

Allegations that King City police officers were targeting vulnerable immigrants in a scheme to essentially steal their cars for profit demonstrates again why immigration reform is needed, Monterey County immigration reform activists said Wednesday.

"We learned about two years ago that Monterey County was No. 1 in the country in the percentage of people deported for non-criminal violations," said Carlos Ramos, district director for the League of United Latin American Citizens, one of the oldest civil rights organizations in the country. Immigration is not just "about individual needs, but the vulnerability of that community. In this case, (the population) was just an easy mark. And it was not just about the undocumented, what about the citizens who happened to be Latino in King City?"

About 88 percent of King City's nearly 13,00 residents are of Latino origin. The region is heavily dependent on agriculture, an occupation that's also dependent on immigrant, largely undocumented, workers.

For years, many have complained about the police department and its apparent lack of responsiveness to the residents' concerns. On Tuesday, six King City officers were arrested in a widespread case of corruption.

One of the fears of residents, immigrants in particular, has been getting their cars impounded.

A typical scenario might go like this: A driver gets stopped for missing a tail light, or a license plate light, or rolling past the white line of a stop sign. The officer then requests the usual documents: driver's license, insurance, registration.

But under California law, undocumented immigrants cannot be issued a driver's license. The officer would then call a tow truck and have the car impounded. Rules established in King City don't allow drivers to recover the cars until after 30 days. By then, the accrued storage fees — often thousands of dollars according to residents — are so high the immigrants, farmworkers who eke out a living on minimum wage, cannot afford to get the cars back — even if they could get a licensed driver to recover it for them.

The tow truck company would then sell the cars. A King City police officer is accused of receiving a free car for each ten the tow truck company could sell.

"My No. 1 goal was to get rid of the 30-day hold," said King City Councilman Carlos Victoria, who was elected to the council in 2010. He had a meeting with then Chief Nick Baldiviez and the city manager and was led to believe the 30-day hold would be fixed, he said. Baldiviez was also arrested Wednesday for another, unrelated charge.

"If people were able to get their licenses, this would not be an issue," Victoria said.

Regulations that will go into effect in 2015 will allow undocumented immigrants to get drivers' licenses in California. The California Department of Motor Vehicles is in the process of establishing the process for people to be able to apply.

About one million California residents are expected to be able to benefit from this law.

But the immigration issue remains unsolved. After months of back and forth in Congress, it appears there will be no immigration reform this year.

"Until we get immigration reform there will not be a clear path for who's available for certain rights and privileges," Ramos said. "This gray area remains because Congress is not taking action, it's a national issue that allows these kinds of incidents to continue. We hope it does not get worse."

It already has been very bad for a long time, says Juan Moran, a representative with the United Farm Workers. The UFW, one of the major advocates for immigration reform, gets constant complaints from immigrants who suspect their rights are being violated.

"If you have no documents, you really think twice before raising your voice," Moran said.

"We see so many cases," he said. "A lot of people, because they have no papers, they keep quiet about a lot of things. They keep quiet and put up with a lot."